Rainy Day Babysitter
by Spooky Mitsuko
Summary: UPDATE! CHAPTER 3 IS UP! Because there aren't nearly enough of them, I bring you a 'L is stuck babysitting' fanfiction. Set when the boys are about 7 and 10. Hope it's to your liking :3
1. The Rain

**Hello again kitties.**

I come bearing Death Note fan fiction :3 Hope ya'll enjoy L-as-the-babysitter fan fiction, because I don't think there's nearly enough of it.

This is only the first chapter of what I hope to be a nice semi-long piece. Considering this is my first non one-shot ever I hope it's to eveyones liking.

Disclaimers: I don't own Death Note. Though I do own a note book and like to pretend I'm L.

And now, I hope you enjoy

**Rainy Day Babysitter.**

"But I don't _want_ to go shopping!"

Mello shrieked angrily, kicking his tiny feet in frustration against the mattress of his bed.

"Oh...why not? It wont take long. We just need milk and sugar.."

"But we just went shopping Near!" Mello whined passionately "And it's raining outside and it's _cold_!"

"I know that." The younger boy responded passively, digging his toes into the rug in the hallway. "I'm just telling you what Roger said."

"Why can't I just stay here! God! It's not like I'm not old enough to be left alone!" Mello cried, gesticulating wildly from his position on the bed. "And come _in_ here when you talk to me Near!"

Near looked around nervously for a moment, but stayed standing outside Mello's doorway. He knew that never completely entering his room annoyed Mello to no end, but to be honest Mello made Near anxious, especially when he was upset.

"Mello," He tried again gently, taking a tiny step forward hoping to appease him. "Let's just go shopping with Roger, okay? It wont take that long."

"No! I'm not going out in the rain."

"Fine." Near snapped beside himself, kicking his foot deeper into the rug. "Roger told me to tell you that if you're gonna stay here-"

"Which I am. And why don't you just marry Roger if you're going to talk about him so much? You two can spend your rainy days together getting wet and going shopping." Mello teased, lifting his head up to see if his words would cause a reaction. Near stayed quiet until he was sure Mello was finished before resuming his sentence.

"He said that if you're going to stay here you'll need a babysitter."

"...What?"

Near sighed, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot "Roger said that if you don't want to come with us then you're going to need a-"

"I _heard_ what you said!" Mello snapped sitting up quickly and pivoting on his bed to look at Near. "I can't believe you're serious! How can they think I need a babysitter? I'm _seven _years old! I don't _need_ a babysitter! I'm not going to eat glue or put toothpaste in my hair or do some other stupid moronic thing only a baby would think of!

Near thought about mentioning that babies also threw tantrums, but his common sense advised against it.

"Okay. So..." Near looked down at his feet to avoid Mello's glare and quickly tried to think of something to say. All he could come up with was "Should I tell Roger you're not coming?"

"Near, you're such a freak!" Mello spat throwing a pillow at the door. "I don't need a babysitter! Tell him I'm going to stay in my room!"

Near shrunk back into the hall, pulling his hair tightly around one finger. He had been harboring a half formed hope that by some miracle Mello would actually agree to come shopping with them and by doing so avoid an argument, but that seemed very unlikely now.

"I'll say so Mello." Near said quietly, gazing down the hallway "but I just want you to know that I thought maybe...it would be nice going shopping..."

Mello opened his mouth as if to yell something in retaliation, but turned away instead, crossing his arms and staring angrily out the window.

Near stood quietly for a few moments, watching Mello's small body tense before shuffling quickly back down the hall.

As soon as Mello knew Near was gone he jumped off his bed and slammed his door. "Stupid Near." He spat, kicking his abused pillow across the room. "Don't you think I would have liked to go shopping too?" He added quietly to himself, wiping tears of frustration off his cheeks.

The rain outside pelted harshly against the great glass window, and a quick clap of thunder made Mello's heart skip a beat. Suddenly the idea of staying alone in his room all night was becoming less and less appealing, and Mello crawled up onto his bed only to remember it was pillow-less.

Staring out at the storm Mello felt the anger seep out of his system to be replaced with fatigue. Leaning against the headboard of his bed Mello waited in silence as minutes past by. Soon he began to feel content to just fall asleep right then and there, until he heard a knock at his door.

Shooting up like a rocket, Mello growled deep in his throat and after making his way across the room threw open his door with a loud "What is it _now_?"

Large dark eyes stared down at him over a half eaten ice cream cone.

"Hello Mello. I guess I'll be watching you tonight."

Suddenly the rain seemed to lighten up outside.


	2. The Shelter

**Hello again everyone!**

Finally, after much wait,- chapter two of **Rainy Day Babysitter** is finally here!

I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but school is a little ( alright, more then a little ) insane right now, especially with finals fast approaching.

Thank you for everyone that reviewed this story- I love you all :33333

And all your reviews were so nice and sweet! So as a special thank you I've added a lot more humor into this chapter of the story.

This fic was intended to be a comedy anyway, so now we're really getting into the swing of things!

I hope this installment is to everyone's liking!

( Oh- and I've taken some liberties with Mello's past and his love for collecting things x3.

Hope nobody minds! )

**Rainy Day Babysitter: Chapter 2- **

Drippy ice cream dropped to the floor as L stood in Mello's doorway. Messily eating his sticky treat, L tipped his head to the side and stared wide eyed at Mello, waiting for the latter to speak. A few pink drops plopped onto L's bare foot, but he quickly angled it forward and wiped them off on Mello's rug. Mello didn't care in the slightest however, seeing as how L was actually standing in his doorway willing to look over him the entire night if need be.

Mello's mind quickly scanned over all the things he could do. _Eat candy_. Yes. That had to be the most important. Not only did he know L would let him eat candy- he knew L would eat candy_ with _him. And lots of it.

L furrowed his brow as Mello began giggling to himself excitedly, and extended his arm forward

"Want some ice cream?" L asked, trying in vain to lick the sticky mess off his face.

Mello came out of his reverie at the sound of L's voice and peered up at him, then down at the offered ice cream which was melting all over L's hand.

"Ummm...no thanks..."

L shrugged and raised the remaining desert up to his face, quickly devouring the rest of his treat and wiping his hands on his pants.

Silence resumed as Mello looked around anxiously, wondering what he should do next. Should he offer L a seat? He turned and looked across his room as an idea came to him.

"Hey L!" He called loudly, as L had begun staring at the ceiling. "I'll give you a tour of my stuff!"

L did not respond but began surveying his surroundings from the doorway instead.

Mello was rapidly becoming very embarrassed, and berating himself mentally for having such a stupid idea. Still, he knew that if L thought his stuff was cool then it simply had to be true, and suddenly he was very desperate to know what the older boy thought.

After a long pause, and a few more attempts at rubbing the ice cream off his face L responded with a quiet "Okay Mello."

Mello's heart fluttered excitedly in his chest and his smile grew bigger then it ever had been before.

"Alright!" He shouted loudly, jumping up and clapping his hands.

L stared at him as though he were a few colors short of a rainbow and Mello quickly calmed down, putting his hands in his pockets. "I-I mean...if you really want to then I guess it's okay..." Mello looked away from L in a nonchalant manner while secretly high fiving himself on a job well done. "

Okay..let's see...we'll start.." Mello looked around quickly before setting his gaze on the far right hand corner of his room. "We'll start over here!" Mello grabbed hold of L's hand, ignoring the fact that it was still dripping with bits of ice cream, and began dragging him further into his room.

They stopped before a large cabinet which was filled with jewelry and various types of exotic candies.

"This" Mello began loudly, raising his arms above his head. "Is everything that's awesome and I want people to see!"

"Wooooow" L took a step forward, peering intently at a particular strawberry tart cookie that looked at least fifty years old. "Where did you get all this candy?"

Mello grinned and held his chin high "Those were given to me by my foster family, the one I had before I came here to live."

"Oooohh...that's cool.." L answered distractedly, poking the glass in front of the cookie with his index finger.

"Yeah, don't you think?" Mello replied proudly "And you know, sometimes I still get packages from my distant Uncle In Belgium. They're always filled with foreign chocolates and truffles..."

"I like Truffles..." L placed his forehead against the glass of the cabinet and stared sadly at the little cookie. "That cookie looks good..."

"It's a collectors item."

"Of course"

L sighed and took a step away from the cabinet.

"You have quite the collection." He replied, with a small smile. "Actually, speaking of collections, I was rather interested in seeing your comic book collection. Is that alright?"

Mello's mouth opened slightly and his eyes bulged a little too. He had known that a few kids were in awe of his amazing comic book collection, but he had no idea that rumor of it had gotten so huge!

"Wow!" He said rather breathlessly "How did you find out about that?"

L gave a little smile again and tilted his head "I overheard some kids mentioning you the other day. They said they heard about it from some other kids...who told some other kids...I suppose."

Mello's eyes grew bright with the knowledge that he was being spoken about all over the school, and even more at the prospect that it had brought L to have more respect for him.

_He knows I collect comic books, this is so cool!_

"I usually don't show them to anybody!" Mello spoke excitedly "But I'll show them to you, because I know you have a lot of respect for stuff like that!

Mello grabbed L's hand and once again pulled him to the opposite side of the room.

"I keep them in a secret spot." He called over his shoulder as he dragged L over to his bed.

Mello let go of L's hand and stood before him, crossing his arms and arching his back in what he hoped to be a successful attempt at making himself look older.

"Alright L." He began, stoicly pointing a finger at the dark haired boy " This spot is _secret _secret. And I mean Secret secret secret! I don't just tell anyone about it. It's a very _very_ secret spot. So secret, in fact, that the last time someone found out about it...I pushed them into a pricker bush..."

L blinked. "I think I remember when you did that."

"Oh" Mello nodded to himself "Yes, well. I only did it because he looked in my secret spot."

"Indeed" L closed his eyes in understanding.

After a few moments of silent agreement Mello spoke. "Alright. I think you're ready to see the spot."

Nimbly Mello got down on all fours and squeezed his tiny body under his bed until only his toes were visible.

"You can't tell anyone that I keep them here, okay?" He heard Mello's muffled voice call from beneath his bed. "It would ruin everything!"

"Okay" L called back, shifting from foot to foot while watching Mello with interest.

After a few minutes of shuffling and quiet swearing Mello shimmed back out into the light, clutching a box dearly to his chest. Placing it gently down onto his bed, Mello hopped up next to it and L sat down on the other side.

With hands clasped on the lid of the box Mello raised his gaze to peer at L intently "Now...are you sure you're prepared to see?"

L nodded his head in earnest, so with great care Mello gingerly lifted the lid off the dusty box to reveal a few dozen first addition X-men comics, unopened, each in it's own protective plastic case.

L tilted his head and ran his fingers over the spine of each comic. "Wow, Mello, you sure know how to take care of your stuff..."

"Well, you know" Mello smiled "They _are_ first additions..."

"Mmm..." L answered while reading each title out loud to himself. "You know, I always liked Wolverine the best..."

Mello bounced excitedly on the bed "Me too!"

"Really?" L smiled sweetly. Mello felt a sudden warmth in his stomach and looked away from L, down at his bare feet. He wiggled his toes idly and smiled to himself.

"Yeah. I think it's because you know, he's so small- but he's also strong!"

L really was an awesome friend. He didn't think of him as a baby. No, L thought of him as an equal. Even if he was older and smarted and more sought after then Mello he still liked him just for who he was and enjoyed hanging out with him even if it was a only a rainy night that threw them together.

Mello was happy, and he thought to himself how nice it would be if L could watch him like this all the time. He'd never leave the orphanage again if it meant getting looked after by L.

Suddenly the sound of a door opening and closing resounded from down the hallway. Following it Mello could hear wet foot steps and a voice that could only belong to Roger saying "It's too wet out there, it's not worth the drive. It's too dangerous. We'll go shopping together another time, but I'm going to leave you here tonight, alright Near?"

Mello's heart sank.


	3. The Storm

**Hey everybody!** How are you all getting along?

First off I just want to apologize for the long wait T-T

I'm leaving to spend a month in Europe later this week and I have to learn a whole bunch of music before I go. As you can imagine that leaves very little time for enjoying anything.

But I made a promise that I'd get the third installment up before I left- and here it is!

The 3rd chapter of **Rainy Day Babysitter** in which Near re-enters the plot and Mello has to deal with L's divided attention :3

I hope it's to everyone's liking!

And want to give a giant shout out and hug to all the great readers who have stuck with the story thus far! Don't give up on me yet guys- there's still plenty more crazy shenanigans to be had!

So with out further adieu- Here's...

**Rainy Day Babysitter: Chapter 3-**

Near stood alone in the hallway. Having been abandoned by Roger with the excuse of "I have to get milk lest the children throw a fit at breakfast time," he was less then pleased.

Glancing down the hall Near could spot a faint light cutting through the bottom of Mello's door, and having noted that L wasn't in his usual position perched atop the couch eating jelly beans he could only suspect who Roger's pick for a baby sitter had been.

With a sigh Near wiped his wet sneakers off on the carpet. He knew it wasn't exactly polite to leave muddy stains on the floor, especially with the knowledge that this rug was in fact a new rug since Mello had spilled chocolate syrup on the old one, but to be honest he was in too much of a sour mood to care.

His umbrella had snapped and broken halfway through the gates of the Wammy House effectively leaving the poor child cold and completely soaked. Roger hadn't been much of a help either, being quick to leave him standing there after taking one fleeting glance at Mello's door.

Near had the sneaking suspicion that Roger was more afraid of the volatile blonde then any other member of the house, which actually made sense seeing as how he always sent one of the children to alert Mello when he needed to be told something. The fear wasn't completely unfounded really, and Near was totally willing to let it fester if only doing so didn't involve constantly being on the receiving end of Mello's fits.

Near closed his eyes in slight aggravation. A bath was what he needed. A nice, warm, _quiet _bath with no arguing, yelling or pillow throwing of any kind.

Sluggishly Near began dragging himself down the hallway choosing to ignore the squishing sounds his shoes made and the unpleasant way his white shirt clung to his small frame. A bath would make everything better, and afterwards he could dry himself off with a nice fluffy towel, lock himself in his room and do his best to forget that somewhere across the house Mello was internally squealing with delight over L paying attention to him. Near rolled his eyes. He's probably showing him his cookie collection or that stupid fort he planed on making this morning or...

Aw _crap_

Near stopped dead in his tracks as a very unwelcome realization hit him.

Mello had stolen all the towels in the house.

To make the aforementioned fort.

Because according to him "Towels were the only form of insolation that could protect against cooties."

If screaming hadn't been completely out of Nears ability he would have woken up the entire city.

Back in Mello's room L stared curiously at the small blonde who, at the moment, had his ear pressed closely against the wooden door.

"He stopped walking..."

L tilted his head "Who..?"

"Near..."

L quietly hopped off the bed and came to kneel down beside his pensive friend.

"Why do you think that might be?"

"I'm not sure.." Mello replied slowly "but his footsteps sounded wet..."

"It _is_ raining..."

"Mm.." Mello nodded quickly and went back to listening.

L watched Mello at work for a few more moments before following suit and pressing his ear against the door. He stared absently at the back of Mello's head before quietly asking "Maybe if he's wet...we should offer him a towel."

"A...towel..?"

Mello's face blanched as his eyes slowly roamed over to his dresser and the dozens of towel corners sticking out of it. His mind then switched to panic mode.

_Oh God! If L finds out I stole all the towels I'll get in trouble! And even worse...my fort will be susceptible to COOTIES!_

"H-Hey now L! I don't know..." Mello began quickly, stepping back from the door and posing innocently with his hands behind his back. "I've heard on numerous occasions that Near _likes _being wet, in fact he prefers it to being dry!"

L tilted his head again and shoved his thumb into his mouth. 'Really? Is that so..."

"Indeed it is." Mello nodded enthusiastically and began walking away from the door. "Now..if you will just help me put these comic books away I'll be glad to-"

Mello's sentence was cut short however by the sound of a door opening and L's soft voice.

"Hello Near." it said, "Would you like a towel?"

Mello was sure his heart was somewhere near his pelvis at this point.

Outside Mello's doorway stood a dripping wet Near, shivering slightly and pulling his baggy, practically transparent shirt closer to him. His white hair was plastered flat around his face and clung wetly to his cheeks and forehead. Mello thought he looked like a drowned lab rat.

"Um..." Near glanced quickly at Mello in response to L's question. Near was no fool, in fact he was a super genius, so he knew all good and well that there would be consequences to alerting L to the fact that Mello was currently in possession of all the house's towels. "I..." He stumbled over his words slightly, taking one more glance at Mello's glaring face before coming up with the super genius response of , "I'm allergic to towels."

_Double crap._

L's brow furrowed slightly "Allergic? Really...Mm, I believe you should inform Roger about that."

"Yes. I agree." Near responded quickly, stepping back slightly as Mello's face took on a disturbingly pleased look. "I promise you I will as soon as he returns, as for now I'm just going to-"

"I suppose you could borrow some of my clothes seeing as how your's are soaked."

"What?"

"WHAT?"

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at the source of the exclamation. Mello stood hunched over and breathing rather heavily. "Your...your _clothes_..?"

L's mouth formed into a small smile as he walked over to Mello a kneeled down in front of him. "Yes, of course. He might get sick otherwise. As a responsible baby sitter I must make sure the children I care for do not fall ill, don't you agree?"

The response he got was a series of strangled noises worthy of a dying cat.

"Good." L patted Mello's head and turned to Near still smiling sweetly.

"They'll be big on you, I'm sure- but they'll be dry. Is that alright with you Near?"

Near stood perfectly still with the horrified appearance of someone who truly believed he was about to be smothered to death by a mass of blonde hair.

"Near...?"

It took L three tries before Near finally pulled his eyes away from Mello's murderous expression to answer him.

"Yes. That will be...fine. Thank you L for your...kindness."

L smiled again and stood to his full height, walking past Mello and Near out into the hallway.

"I'll be right back." He told them before continuing the stroll to his bedroom, "I'll bring a shirt and a pair of pants with me."

"-But..."

One look at Mello's face told Near that being left alone with him was simply not an option.

"Wait, L!"

L turned around somewhat alarmed by the usually quiet boy's sudden outburst.

"Is everything alright Near?"

"Um.." Now that Near had spoken he felt rather foolish. What was he supposed to say? 'Please L don't leave me alone with Mello because I'm afraid he'll torture me, or even worse force me to eat one of those stale old cookies he has in that creepy case in his room?' Surly not.

"I..." Near felt less then eloquent this evening and was pretty sure he was catching a cold to boot. And he was much less then thrilled to have to keep coming up with excuses for his actions, but what else could he do? It was either go with L or get pummeled and the latter really did not sound pleasant, thank you.

"I..." Near breathed out before finally uttering. "I've always been curious to see what kind of atmosphere you work in. As one of your successors I've been looking for an opportunity to study where you live and what you see everyday. So I was just wondering..." He could swear he felt Mello's hatred sweltering behind him. He stepped closer to L in an attempt to escape it and quietly asked "May I come with you to your room?"

L's only response was a thumb shoved in his mouth and a long, hard look at the ceiling. A few moments passed, and just when Near was about to look up to see what L found so damn interesting he heard a shift in the ground in front of him and looked up slightly to see L's endless stare peering down at him.

"Alright. You can both come with me."

This answer seemed to mollify Mello's mood a bit and in turn let Near breath a bit easier.

"Thank you L."

"It's alright. However we should hurry up. Staying in those clothes much longer will surly result in sickness."

Near agreed whole heartedly and quickened his pace behind L's retreating figure. He could hear Mello's animated footsteps behind him and allowed himself to hope that maybe getting to see L's room would appease him to the point of forgetting about the borrowing of L's clothing.

Yeah. He couldn't believe it either.

L's bedroom was a short walk away from Near and Mello's own bedrooms. It was simply further down the hall. Mello believed that this was because L's coolness was too great to be contained in a bedroom near the door. No no. L had to have a bedroom far away from the sniveling brats of Wammy House- a bedroom where his enormous brain could reign free and create wonderful solutions to fantastic problems! Mello mused over this joyously as he walked.

_Pay attention!_ He told himself, _This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! _

Upon reaching the door, L's hand raised lazily to hover above the doorknob before grasping it, turning it slightly and pushing his door open. The room was dark, only being illuminated by sudden streaks of lightning from outside his window.

"You guys wait here alright. Let me turn on the light before-"

"WAAAH!"

L's attempt at keeping the children safe from the impending doom of his messy domain had proved useless, seeing as how Mello had already done a rather skillful face plant into a pile of L's dirty clothing.

"That's why I told you to wait." L sighed as he flicked on the light.

Near stood politely outside L's room until the latter ushered him in, helping him side step the mountains of candy, clothes, and assorted toys that were scattered around. Mello quickly composed himself and, after picking a pair of underwear off his head, went about inspecting and touching everything in L's room.

Nothing seemed particularly unusual about the place L spent most of his time in. It was a tad messy perhaps but-...alright it was a sty, but it was _L's_ sty!

Mello crawled up onto L's bed and bounced on it once or twice noticing it made the stack of plates on the foot bump against each other. Mello crawled over to said plates and peered at the few crumbs left on them. He tasted what was there- Strawberry cake. Mello smiled to himself. He could have guessed that!

Across the room L was kneeling down in front of Near. By this time the tiny boy had mostly dripped dry so all he needed was to be clothed. L dug through more piles of clothing in the corner of his room until a drawer became visible. He opened it to reveal some half folded white shirts.

"This is where I keep my clean clothes you see..."

"Ah.." Near hadn't even realized that there was furniture in the room until L had somehow found his dresser amongst the giant conglomeration of various items. Near noticed with a bit of frightened fascination that L had a collection of porcelain clown dolls on his night stand. He quickly averted his eyes however as he was sure one winked at him.

"Ah- this will do well."

Near turned back to L to find him holding up a simple white shirt, only a few sizes larger then what he usually wore. Near peered at it doubtfully.

"I don't think that will fit me.."

L smiled at this and handed the shirt to Near. "Yes. I know, but I don't have any pants that would fit you. I suppose you can use this as a nightgown. Would that be alright? It's dry at least."

Near took the shirt slowly, finding himself blushing at L's kindness. Was this why Mello idolized him to much? Speaking of which...Near suddenly became very aware of Mello watching them from his position on the bed. Turning his head slightly Near's suspicions were confirmed as he spotted Mello glaring at him intently. If looks could kill Near would be long past dead. Near turned back to L with his face in a downcast, unsure of what to do with himself.

He soon felt a hand on his head gently tousling his white locks.

"Don't worry Near- I'll help you dry your hair off." And with that L stood and, taking Near by the hand, began gently leading him to the bathroom in search of a blow dryer.

Oh yeah. He was way past dead.


End file.
